Don't Bargain with the Devil by Sabrina Jeffries Read Free Book Online Page B

English names to be certain. And Miss Seton did not look remotely Spanish. Nor was she a student, as their sources had claimed.
     
While the girl named Tessa babbled on, he surveyed her teacher, searching for some hint of the woman’s foreign blood.
     
She lacked any olive tone to her skin, and her eyes were not dark. Her features did not resemble Dońa Catalina’s, though both women were beautiful in their own ways. Where Dońa Catalina’s image evoked the serenity of a Madonna, Miss Seton’s evoked the sensuality of a Mary Magdalene. Her features were rounder, softer, her nose less narrow. Her full lips tempted a man to taste and plunder.
     
God preserve his soul. He must not think of her in such terms. If she proved to be the marqués’s granddaughter…
     
But today the silken female witchery she wore showed off her lush hips and ripe breasts only too well. The slender span of her waist made him itch to put his hands on it and draw her close.
     
Then there was her hair—a rich chestnut brown, the texture of rumpled velvet. When down, it had fallen in undulating waves about her slender shoulders, reaching to her hips. What he would give to see it like that again…
     
A pang of regret stung him that he ruthlessly shook off. It did not matter how pretty she was. It did not even matter if she roused his blood. She had a more important purpose: she could be the key to his escape from this dreary life of odorous hotels, tasteless inn meals, and cold theaters in icy climes. The key to home, to restoring his family honor. He would not jeopardize that.
     
“And who is this?” young Tessa asked as she turned to him. She had been shooting him curious glances. “A new teacher?”
     
“Hardly,” Miss Seton said. “This is Seńor Diego Montalvo, our new neighbor. Seńor Montalvo, this is Miss Tessa Dalton. She’s a student here.”
     
The girl sketched a pretty curtsy beneath the approving eye of Miss Seton.
     
“Delighted to meet you.” Diego reached out and pretended to pluck a sixpence from behind the girl’s ear.
     
When he presented it to her, she seized it with a laugh of delight. “That was amazing!” the girl exclaimed. “How did you do that?”
     
“It is nothing for a man like me,” he quipped. “Ask Miss Seton—she has already determined that I am the devil himself.”
     
He had the very great pleasure of seeing the teacher blush to the roots of her pretty hair. “I-I did not mean to call you the devil,” she stammered.
     
“I think you did.” He chuckled. “But do not worry. You would not be the first to call me such, nor the last. Conjurers often bring forth such responses.”
     
“You know perfectly well I was not referring to your profession.”
     
Tessa’s eyes went wide. “You must be that magician my aunt and uncle have been talking about! The one who wants to ruin the school!”
     
He gritted his teeth. “I have no desire to—”
     
“Tessa’s aunt is Lady Norcourt,” Miss Seton explained with a mischievous expression. “She was the woman who joined the Duchess of Foxmoor in criticizing your plans. Lady Norcourt taught here before she married a viscount.”
     
If Miss Seton thought to intimidate him by citing the rich and titled friends of the school, she was in for a surprise. He had dined with kings—he could handle a few English lords. Especially when he meant the school no harm anyway.
     
But he must play his role, so he smiled at Tessa. “Please tell your aunt and uncle that they should not listen to idle gossip about my intentions. I merely want to enhance the adjoining property, not ruin your school.”
     
Miss Seton snorted. “Tessa, if you go to Mrs. Harris’s office, you’ll find a surprise there.”
     
Tessa’s face lit up. “What surprise?”
     
“Go and see. I think you’ll be pleased.”
     
Young Tessa looked torn between wanting to stay and hear the gossip and the temptation of her “surprise.” The latter apparently proved too much. “I hope we can talk later,” she told Miss Seton. Then,